With lawmakers gaveling out of the 2025 legislative session early Thursday morning, several of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ priorities were pushed through, although many of her priorities were left until the last few days of the session.
Reynolds pegged education reform as a majority priority, and signed legislation restricting cellphone use in classrooms and reinstated an online education job posting site to combat the state’s teacher shortage.
The governor also signed a law requiring high school graduates to pass the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Naturalization Test.
With the support of Iowa lawmakers, Reynolds called to ban cellphones at the beginning of the 2025 legislative session, and signed a law to that effect at the end of last month.
House File 782 bars the use of personal electronic devices — smartphones, mobile phones, and video game devices, among others — from being used during instructional time in classrooms.
The law allows, and encourages, school districts to implement further restrictions. The governor’s restrictions will go into effect on July 1 and will be enforced in the following school year.
Reynolds’ aim to expand rural health care and cancer research, enforce Medicaid work requirements, and adjust unemployment insurance were passed in the waning days of the legislative session as lawmakers worked to finish their work on the budget for the next fiscal year. .
However, two of her largest proposals did not pass this session with lawmakers unable to come to an agreement on a final version of the bills. Her reform for the state’s energy laws and her pitch for a new childcare grant did not pass both chambers.
“I’m proud of the work we did this session to expand on the strong foundation we’ve built over the last several years in healthcare, education, and tax reform,” Reynolds said in a Thursday news release. “We prioritized rural and maternal healthcare and created a new physician pipeline that will result in 460 new medical residents over the next four years.”
Rural health care and cancer research
Reynolds aimed to address the state’s ailing health care workforce, particularly in rural areas.
Legislation overhauling Iowa’s loan repayment programs as an effort to draw in more health care professionals was sent to the governor’s office Wednesday, May 14.
Under House File 972, Iowa would request $150 million in federal funding to create 115 new medical residency slots in Iowa each year for the next four years.
Another bill awaiting the governor’s signature is House File 516, which would require at least 80 percent of students admitted to the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine and the College of Dentistry to either be Iowa residents or have attended an Iowa college or university for their undergraduate degree. Though the bill was not championed by the governor, she is expected to sign it.
The bills are intended to improve retention of health care workers in the state. Iowa is ranked 44th in the nation for physicians per capita, according to the Association of American Medical College.
Reynolds’ priority will launch a partnership between the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services and the University of Iowa to advance cancer research.
Iowa has the second-highest cancer incidence rate in the U.S, and the Hawkeye state’s cancer rate is rising faster than any other state in the country, according to a report by the UI’s College of Public Health.
The partnership will create a team of epidemiologists to research the behavioral, genetic and environmental factors that play a role in binge drinking, which the U.S. Surgeon General linked to cancer risk in a Jan. 3 advisory
The UI’s report found Iowa has the fourth-highest incidence of alcohol-related cancers and has the highest rate in the Midwest. Iowa was also ranked fourth in the nation for adult binge drinking, which is defined as consuming five or more drinks for men or four or more drinks for women in a single occasion.
Medicaid work requirements
Reynolds advocated to implement work requirements for Iowans on Medicaid, and the bill has made its way to her desk.
The governor submitted a federal waiver request asking for a 100 hour per month work requirement for Iowans on Medicaid on April 15.
The legislation will impact the 171,000 Iowans enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program. State officials estimate roughly 40,000 Iowans will lose their coverage in the next five years.
The proposal requires approval from the federal government. It makes exceptions for people who are disabled, pregnant, receiving unemployment, or medically frail.
Thirteen states, not including Iowa, implemented Medicaid work requirements during Trump’s first administration. The Biden administration revoked the work requirements.
Unemployment insurance reform
Iowa lawmakers pushed unemployment insurance reform, another priority of Reynolds, through at the near end of the session.
Senate File 607, brought forward by the governor at the beginning of the session, was sent back to her desk for final approval. The legislation will cut the taxable wage base used to calculate unemployment insurance taxes in half — slashed from 66.7 percent to 33.4 percent.
The legislation will save Iowa’s business nearly $1 billion over five years, according to a Wednesday news release from Reynolds.
Reynolds said in the release that the state’s unemployment insurance tax has “needlessly punished” Iowa businesses, and that the unemployment trust fund is at a record high of nearly $2 million, an indicator that the state is over collecting.
The governor said the legislation will place Iowa businesses on a level playing field with those in neighboring states.
“I look forward to continuing this work next session — especially when it comes to reducing Iowans’ property tax burden,” Reynolds said in a Thursday news release.
Reynolds announced she will not be seeking reelection last month, sparking a race for the governorship in 2026.
State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, announced his bid and Iowa’s Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra threw his hat in the ring.